Dubai- the world within itself

                         

Burj Khalifa at dusk

                 

Dubai is rightly called the investment center of the world. With a GDP of $403.2 billion (acc. to 2014) the economy of Dubai is the second largest in the United Arab Emirates.  The main income of Dubai is tourism which makes it the seventh most visited city in the world. The other sources which make it one of the richest in the world are- real estate development, royalty from oil companies, tax from foreign banks, hotel and entertainment tax, luxury item imports and tax from alcohol. From my recent visit to this ultra- modern, neon dazzled city, I realized the fact that good governance and discipline could be instrumental in elevating a city and its people to the number one position. Dubai is accessible from all parts of the world.
         

Sultan's palace in Dubai

     

As a tourist, there are various attractions which draw people from around the globe. I made a booking in a 5-star premium category hotel quite beforehand. I must say that booking should be done pretty before time because Dubai is always a very busy destination and the hotels remain booked throughout the year. The next day, we were taken for a half day city tour. There are several attractions, man-made structures that draw visitors all from across the globe.

             

View of the Twin Tower from Al Zayed Road

A visit to Burj Khalifa@At the top: A man made the structure, 828 meters high, proudly boasts to be one the highest structures in the globe. It took 6 years for this to get completed starting from 2004. There are millions of men contributing to this huge structure. We booked tickets to the 125^th floor, and then queued to climb. An elevator climbing 10 meters per second took us to the top floor which was an observatory from where we could see the city. Well. I cannot describe my feeling being at the top, only the cars and other humans seemed like ants from that height.  Maximum roads and structures in Dubai starts with ' Al' which means Sir or respected.

             

Majestic view from the top floor of Burj Khalifa

We took snaps, videos and posed for photos. There was an arrangement to climb to the 148^th floor also with a special ticket. Burj Khalifa has several offices, restaurants, night clubs and observation decks in it. Celebrities like Shilpa Shetty, David Beckham, Giorgio Armani and others have their residence here. The spectacular view from Burj Khalifa is worth mentioning including the Address hotel. It was a great feeling being at the top.
                   

Aquarium at Dubai Mall

We climbed down and then approached towards the aquarium in Dubai Mall: The aquarium is a great attraction in Dubai especially for the kids.  Dubai aquarium is enlisted in the Guinness book of world records for being the largest acrylic panels.  Dubai aquarium and underwater zoo shelters many crazy species. We saw the aquarium tunnel, Aquarium Park, underwater zoo and creepy crawling animals.  We saw various animals and fishes especially.  It has more than 300 species of sharks and other carnivore aquatic animals.

                         

Dubai Mall

Dubai Mall: Known as the largest mall in the world, Dubai Mall shelters 1200 shops. Having all types of clothing, electronic, toys, cosmetics, and other accessories, this Mall is nothing but a shopping paradise. Over 13 million square feet in area, Dubai Mall has 22 cinema screens and more than 1400 car parking areas. There are attractions like Kidzania and way to the Burj Khalifa. Just splendid! We enjoyed lunch and spent some hours over here. I felt that whatever be the amount of money I carry, there will be no full stop to purchasing objects of desire from this Mall. So, I kept my desire suppressed and just carried on my visit being a visitor and appreciating the enormous structure.  Any could not resist from picking up some dresses for myself and some toys for my kids at last.

Limousine- a common view in the streets of Dubai

                         

Dubai museum 

                   

Dubai museum: located in Bur Dubai, Dubai museum is one of the greatest attractions. With more than 1800 visitors a day, Al Fahidi Fort was built in 1787 and known as the oldest existing building in Dubai. The museum was opened in 1971, with an aim of presenting the normal Emirati life to the outside world.  Although, we didn’t get time to go inside, and the temperature which soared over 50 degrees prevented the minimum attempt to enter out of the air conditioned bus.

Burj Al Arab

We saw views of the majestic Hotel Atlantica and Burj Al Arab. The journey through the underwater tunnel to the Hotel was exciting.


 

Hotel Atlantica

There were more attractions which we could not cover because of lack of time was the Dubai ski, Mall of Emirates, an underwater restaurant inside Burj Al Arab and Dubai Aqua venture. I made up my mind that next, I visit I am sure to visit Aqua venture just to satisfy my kids. Lego Land and IMG World also deserve special mention in this respect.  Returned back to my hotel in Deira area, we prepared ourselves for the next day.

Experience sumptuous Thai food at Asia Kitchen, Acropolis Mall while you are in Kolkata

                             

Impressive decor of Asia Kitchen

Kolkata is my home town and I am always proud of the richly varied culture exhibited by the city. There is no city in India which has a plethora of restaurants to satisfy the taste buds of a food lover. Whenever I get time, I explore new restaurants in my city. This time I bumped upon a new restaurant, ‘Asia Kitchen’, which is situated in Acropolis mall, Kasba. Well, I wanted to try authentic Thai, and this restaurant was my perfect choice. A vertical of Mainland China group, Asia kitchen has attracted critics and the food columns of renowned publications.

             

                                                 

The Logo

   

The first glance: The restaurant situated on the fourth floor of Acropolis mall, attracts visitors and food lovers from the city as well as suburbs. The first glance of the restaurant is impressive, with typical Chinese decor on the walls. The restaurant area can accommodate almost 70-80 people at a time.  Flanked by attractive wooden furniture and an open kitchen, this restaurant is a desired place to hang around with friends in the weekend.

                               

Friendly staff

The service: There is an array of choice of food. You will be presented with the menu card from where you may have an idea of the various delicacy served by them. You will be greeted by the friendly staff who will guide on the choice of food. I visited during lunch hour, so I preferred to take a standard four-course package. They were not having any option of the buffet at that hour.  We were offered starters and gradually other courses and the staff were at the best of their hospitality attitude. I visited the kitchen and took some snaps of the employees working there and they posed no objection.

                                 

Peanut and herb sauce as starter 

Chicken dumpling

Steam rice and chicken in red sauce

Hakka chow mien and chicken 

Fried noodles and ice cream

Mango cheese cake

The food: There are several varieties of food. We opted for a four-course meal named ‘’ The Fantastic Four Menus”, where we were served chicken eight treasure soup and sweet corn vegetable soup. Next, we waited for Vegetable basil flavored dumplings and chicken spring rolls. Obviously, we had a choice or choosing in each category. Since we were four, we had the option of more. The main menu consisted of steamed basmati rice and chicken in red curry. The chicken in red curry was truly awesome. (I tried to figure out the recipe and I am sure I will try once).  It had the characteristic Thai favor; I could smell lemon grass and ginger. We had an option of vegetable Hakka noodles with General Tao’s chicken. The chicken had a sweet flavor. Since I have an ‘open taste bud’ to all types of cuisine in this world; I felt it was simply fantastic. We were served mango cheese cake for dessert. There was another option in dessert namely, honey noodles with ice cream. This was a bit different but quite tasty.

The Verdict: Kolkata has a range of Chinese and other specialty cuisines. Asia Kitchen is a great attempt to get Kolkata acquainted to Thai food.  I don’t say that this is the first ever good Thai cuisine in Kolkata, but still, this specialty cuisine won my heart. Considering the warmth of the staff, the ambiance, the restaurant décor and the food I will rate the food as 4.5/5 stars. The quality of food was superb; I wish it keeps up to the standard whenever any reader (who’s reading this review article) reaches out to this restaurant for dinner.

There is nothing more a heavenly pleasure than enjoying good food is a quality restaurant.